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Handsome Ransom
Rachel Feinstein as Barbie-Q | Episode list = List of The Venture Bros. episodes | Prev= Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel | Next= Perchance to Dean }} Handsome Ransom is the second episode of Season 4 and the overall forty-first episode of The Venture Bros. Plot The Monarch is holding Hank and Dean hostage and, fed up with never being able to kill Dr. Venture, demands a $10 million ransom. Superhero Captain Sunshine barges in and attacks the cocoon-lair, giving everyone sunburn on any exposed flesh, and flies The Monarch off to jail. The Monarch returns some time later after being released for lack of due process and finds that Captain Sunshine had returned, flew off with Hank, and left Dr. Girlfriend with a humiliating and embarrassing sunburn on half her body. Monarch tells a surprisingly fit and able #21 to kill the cab driver who drove him home but 21 just pays the man and tells him to keep the transaction a secret. Captain Sunshine mistakes Hank for an orphan and hopes to have Hank replace his lost sidekick Wonder Boy (technically Wonderboy III, the latest of the Captain's teenage sidekicks, brutally killed by The Monarch sometime towards the end of the first season.) Hank initially takes to the superhero lifestyle happily. Throughout the episode an inappropriate relationship between Sunshine and Wonder Boy is implied. The assumptions are usually wrong as Captain Sunshine fails to realize what his relationship with Wonder Boy looks like to others. Dr. Venture and Sgt. Hatred show up to pay the ransom, but The Monarch, unable to fulfill Guild policy of releasing all captives, lets Dean go. Dr. Venture is also unable to pay the ransom money so the Monarch pretends he still has Hank and takes an IOU. Dr. Venture calls Master Billy Quizboy and Pete White for help; they have just received a $10 million check after apparently defrauding an insurance company. Captain Sunshine meanwhile is acting overprotective towards Hank. He is immensely afraid of losing Wonder Boy again and panics easily. It is revealed that he, as well as his old superhero team, works at night as an anchor for a local news channel. Dr. Venture attempts to con the Monarch out of the ransom by shrinking Hatred into the bag of money. The plan misfires when the Monarch runs off with the money and the shrink-ray fails to enlarge Hatred in time. Hatred then remains undercover and discovers where Hank really is, when Dr. Mrs. The Monarch tells the Monarch that he is now obligated to return Hank due to Guild rules. Both the Monarch and Dr. Venture track down Captain Sunshine's lair at night, when he is at work (hosting the eleven o'clock news as "Chuck Scarsdale"). Hank successfully fends off The Monarch and a muscular Henchman 21 while Chuck Scarsdale sees The Monarch's flying cocoon at his home from a submitted news video. He panics, steals the station's news helicopter, and flies home. The Ventures then show up and hide as Captain Sunshine (still dressed as his alter ego) arrives. He quickly changes into costume as The Monarch falls into his "Sanctum Solarium". This also dresses him in Wonder Boy's costume. The Monarch delivers verbal abuse about Wonder Boy to Captain Sunshine, and ends the rant by revealing that he knows Captain Sunshine has no powers at night. He uses a kind of "sunlight ray-gun" in an attempt to defeat him. The "hero" is instead recharged and blasts most of his adversaries. After this, Hank realizes that Sunshine is using him to replace Wonder Boy, and bids the hero a heartfelt goodbye. Sunshine kisses Hank on the lips before Hank has a chance to leave, and states that Hank broke his heart. Though before leaving, Hank asks him to put in a good word to Batman for him, leading an angry and emotionally hurt Captain Sunshine to yell "Get out of my Sanctum Solarium!" In the post credits sequence, The Monarch, Dr. Mrs. the Monarch, and Henchman 21 (who are all badly sunburnt) take a cab home. When the cabbie demands money, The Monarch, off-screen, shoots a dart that hits the cabbie in the neck. Episode Cast * [[wikipedia:James_Urbaniak|'James Urbaniak']]: Dr. Venture * [[wikipedia:Michael_Sinterniklaas|'Mike Sinterniklaas']]: Dean Venture * [[Chris McCulloch|'Chris McCulloch']]: Hank Venture, The Monarch, Sgt. Hatred, Pete White, Scorpio, Copter 5 Guy, Pirate Captain * [[Doc Hammer|'Doc Hammer']]: Dr. Girlfriend, Henchman 21, Billy Quizboy, Desmond, U.S. Steel * [[wikipedia:Rachel_Feinstein_(comedian)|'Rachel Feinstein']]: Barbie-Q/Barbara Quantas, Woman on Street * [[wikipedia:Kevin_Conroy|'Kevin Conroy']]: Captain Sunshine First Appearances * Copter 5 Guy * Desmond * The Super Gang (Channel 5 Action News Team) ** Barbie-Q (Barbara Quantas) ** Brown Thrasher (Neville Brown) ** Captain Sunshine (Chuck Scarsdale) ** Ghost Robot (Weatherbot 5) ** U.S. Steel (Sam Turgen) Connections to Other Episodes [[Tag Sale – You're It!|''Tag Sale – You're It!]] * Dr. Venture's shrink ray makes its third appearance in the show, the first being in [[Tag Sale – You're It!|''Tag Sale – You're It!]] and the second in ''Escape to the House of Mummies Part II''. The device is mentioned but not shown in the Season 3 finale [[The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together (Part II)|''The Family That Slays Together, Stays Together (Part II)]], as Sgt. Hatred reveals he tried to commit suicide unsuccessfully using the shrink ray (leaving him with a shrunken "baby tongue"). ''[[Past Tense|'Past Tense']] * One of the members of Captain Sunshine's superhero group is Ghost Robot, a reference to Hank's deduction in Past Tense, upon seeing the destroyed robot version of Mike Sorayama, that "Sorayama's not just a ghost - he's a ghost robot!" [[Return to Spider-Skull Island|''Return to Spider-Skull Island]] * This entire episode finds its origin in [[Return to Spider-Skull Island|''Return to Spider-Skull Island]], in which The Monarch ordered #21 and #24 to send the "charred remains of Wonder Boy to his beloved Captain Sunshine." The Monarch blames his breakup with Dr. Girlfriend and the resulting drinking problem for his "slaying" of Wonder Boy III. [[Powerless in the Face of Death|''Powerless in the Face of Death]] * Captain Sunshine was previously mentioned by Herman, one of Crime-O-Dile's henchmen, in the episode [[Powerless in the Face of Death|''Powerless in the Face of Death]].'' [[Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner?|Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner?]] * The Pirate Captain mentions that Jonas Jr. is building ''Gargantua-2. The space station Gargantua-1 crashed in [[Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner?|''Guess Who's Coming to State Dinner?]] [[Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny|Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny]] * Captain Sunshine spares The Monarch a beating upon their first encounter in the episode, saying that he knows The Monarch is invulnerable. This is a reference to the episode [[Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny|''Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny]], where The Monarch regales Dr. Girlfriend and Truckules with a tale in which he duped Captain Sunshine into believing this. * A giant penny can be seen in Captain Sunshine's lair. In ''Shadowman 9: In the Cradle of Destiny'', henchmen can be seen rolling another giant penny with The Monarch's face on it from the wreckage of the cocoon. [[The Invisible Hand of Fate|''The Invisible Hand of Fate]] * Billy and Pete's $10 million insurance check came from "General Consolidated Insurance." This is a reference to the Guild's tendency to create fronts using the same initials as "Guild of Calamitous Intent," having previously used this method when financing Phantom Limb's muscle regeneration experiment in the episode [[The Invisible Hand of Fate|''The Invisible Hand of Fate]] under the name "Guild of Collegiate Investors." In this instance it's an early reference to The Investors. [[Tears of a Sea Cow|''Tears of a Sea Cow]] * The Monarch's claim that Captain Sunshine wanted to have sex with him (as his arch enemy) is a possible echo of the episode [[Tears of a Sea Cow|''Tears of a Sea Cow]] wherein the Monarch attempts to infect a robot with Dr. Venture's face with chlamydia. [[Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel|''Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel]] * Hatred's supposedly cured pedophilia is implied when he learns that Master Billy Quizboy is 37 years old. The Office of Secret Intelligence administered a shot that was supposed to rid him of the problem in [[Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel|''Blood of the Father, Heart of Steel]]. [[Any Which Way But Zeus|'Any Which Way But Zeus']] * Captain Sunshine's valet, Desmond, makes a reappearance in Any Which Way But Zeus in a more pivotal role. It's revealed he was the original Captain Sunshine in the '60s while Chuck Scarsdale (the current Captain Sunshine) was his sidekick Wonder Boy, further paralleling the Batman mythology of the sidekick taking on the mentor's role. Cultural References [[wikipedia:barbecue|'Barbecue']] * Barbie-Q's name is a pun on the doll Barbie and the word barbecue, since she is on fire. [[wikipedia:Barbie|'Barbie']] * Barbie-Q is in part a parody of Barbie. According to Jackson Publick "she has doll parts--she's not a real person--and she's on fire."Jackson Publick, Go Team Venture!: The Art and Making of The Venture Bros. (2018), p. 182 [[wikipedia:Batman|'Batman']] * Captain Sunshine is voiced by Kevin Conroy, who voiced Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, and other DC Comics TV shows, movies, and games. * There is a giant penny with The Monarch's face on it in Captain Sunshine's Sanctum Solarium, an allusion to the giant penny traditionally present in drawings of the Batcave (from Batman's encounter with either the Penny Plunderer or Two-Face). * At the end of the episode, Hank asks if Captain Sunshine can give him a reference for Batman. Hank has displayed a Batman obsession throughout the series. (See: The Bat.) * Captain Sunshine’s “Sanctum Solarium” evokes the Batcave from Batman comics. [[wikipedia:Black Condor#John Trujillo|'Black Condor']] * Brown Thrasher appears to be a parody of the DC Comics superhero Black Condor. [[wikipedia:Brown thrasher|'Brown thrasher']] * Brown Thrasher is named after the brown thrasher, a bird whose diet includes monarch butterflies. [[wikipedia:Close_Encounters_of_the_Third_Kind|''Close Encounters of the Third Kind]]' (1977)' * The Monarch, and particularly his wife, become sunburnt by Captain Sunshine with her burn being halfway down the middle, reminiscent of Roy Neary in [[wikipedia:Close_Encounters_of_the_Third_Kind|''Close Encounters of the Third Kind]] (1977). [[wikipedia: Doctor_Strange|'Dr. Strange']] * Captain Sunshine’s “Sanctum Solarium” evokes the Sorceror Supreme’s Sanctum Sanctorum from Dr. Strange comics. [[wikipedia:Fire_(comics)|'Fire']] * Barbie-Q is in part a parody of DC superheroine Fire. [[wikipedia:Human_Torch_(android)|'Human Torch']] * Barbie-Q is in part a parody of the original Human Torch, an android from the original ''Marvel Mystery Comics''. [[wikipedia:Lenny Bruce|'Lenny Bruce']] * Captain Sunshine's order to his butler, Desmond, is reminiscent of comedian Lenny Bruce's routine from around 1959: 'It's very appropriate what we do in this country to homosexuals and entirely consistent with the rest of the justice system: put them in gaol with a lot of men─"Wash 'im up and get 'im ready!".' [[wikipedia:Michael_Jackson|'Michael Jackson']] * Captain Sunshine's demeanor is partially based on Michael Jackson. * Stately Scarsdale Manor, Captain Sunshine's home, is based on Michael Jackson's Neverland Ranch. [[wikipedia:Punch-Out!! (arcade game)|'Punch-Out!!]]'' (1983)' * When Hank (as Wonder Boy) is fighting Henchman 21 and the Fluttering Horde, he narrates his attacks: "Jab! Body blow! Body blow!" This is a reference to the voiceover from the early 1980s arcade game ''Punch-Out!!, where the player controlled a boxer whose moves were commented on by a prerecorded voice. [[wikipedia:Superman|'Superman']] * Captain Sunshine’s “Sanctum Solarium” evokes the Fortress of Solitude from Superman comics. [[wikipedia:The_Godfather|''The Godfather]]' ''(1972)' * Captain Sunshine’s dramatic declaration to Hank that he broke his heart is a reference to a similar scene between Michael Corleone and Fredo in ''The Godfather''. [[wikipedia:Time for Timer|''Time for Timer]] * ''Time for Timer was a title for a short series of public service announcements broadcast on Saturday mornings on the ABC television network starting in the early 1970s. Having "a fun time eating sunshine on a stick" is a quote from a Time for Timer Saturday morning cartoon PSA on how to make homemade popsicles, produced by UCLA School of Public Health.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AaVWM1mqG74 [[wikipedia:Uncle Sam (comics)|'Uncle Sam']] * U.S. Steel appears to be a pro-wrestler version of the DC Comics superhero Uncle Sam. [[wikipedia:Vision_(Marvel_Comics)|'Vision']] * Barbie-Q is in part a parody of the Marvel Comics hero Vision. * Show creator Jackson Publick would refer to Vision as "Ghost Robot" when doodling the character, with the nickname eventually inspiring the creation of the character Ghost Robot.Go Team Venture!: The Art and Making of The Venture Bros. (2018), p. 182 Production Notes *One of the animation directors (Kimson Albert) gets to have a nickname inserted into his credits. For Handsome Ransom the credit reads Kimson "Copter 5" Albert. *Despite the numerous jokes and hints made in the episode, Christopher McCulloch has stated categorically that "Captain Sunshine = NOT an actual pedophile". * Captain Sunshine is voiced by Kevin Conroy, who voiced Bruce Wayne/Batman in Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League, Justice League Unlimited, and other DC Comics TV shows, movies, and games. Trivia * Sergeant Hatred implies that his alcoholism was a key reason for Princess Tinyfeet leaving him. * Captain Sunshine parodies Michael Jackson, Batman, and Superman simultaneously. References Category:The Venture Bros. episodes Category:2009 television episodes Category:Season 4 Category:Episodes